DIVISION I-A BOYS: Chargers ease into title match

State tournament tennis matches rarely are easy.

Clark’s boys, though, barely broke a sweat Thursday.

The Chargers blitzed their way to an 18-0 win over South Tahoe in a Division I-A semifinal at Reno Tennis Center. Clark (17-1) will meet Truckee (10-2) for the title at 9 a.m. Friday.

“We haven’t won (state) in more than 30 years, so our kids came out and just played really hard,” Clark coach Clarence Chun said. “It was a complete team effort.”

Bidding for their first state title since 1979, the Chargers dropped only 10 games in the opening round.

Joseph Maalouf and Deric Pang each won a 6-0 set in singles as Clark sprinted to a 6-0 lead.
The Vikings (5-7) never recovered.

In 18 sets, South Tahoe won one game or fewer 12 times. The Vikings never had a set point, and their singles players combined to win a total of eight games in nine sets.

“After we built up a lead, we just relaxed a little more and played our game,” Chun said. “Luck was on our side today.”

Miko Pasimio, Maalouf and Pang each went 3-0 in singles for Clark.

Kenny Daniels and Chaitanya Ingle were 3-0 in doubles. The Chargers also had the doubles teams of Mark McCrary and Caleb Chen, and Walt Benda and Christian Ong each go 2-0.

Truckee 11, The Meadows 7 — Evan Roth and Mario Gamboa did all they could for The Meadows on Thursday.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t play more than one position at a time.

Roth and Gamboa each went 3-0 in singles, accounting for all but one of the Mustangs’ points, as Truckee used its depth to top The Meadows in the other semifinal.

Gamboa surrendered only four games in three sets, and Roth dropped just five, but the Mustangs (12-5) struggled in the other four positions.

“We had to change the lineup a little bit because one of our doubles players got sick,” said Mustangs coach Frideric Prandecki. “But I felt like my boys left it out on the court.”

Adam Sklamberg and Peter Sklamberg won their opening set in doubles, 6-0. It was the only other win The Meadows produced.

“We played hard,” Prandecki said. “It’s tough, and I wish we had another shot at them, but maybe next year.”

The Wolverines’ teams of Aaron Pado and Grayson Forsberg, and Zach Conradson and Aaron Deeter each went 3-0.